Infield Dirt Mixer

For the infields of our 12 ball diamonds, I wanted a great playing surface. I recent years I've been hearing some really good things about an infield product from Natural Sand Company out of Western PA, DuraEdge. DuraEdge is an engineered infield material that can be blended to our specifications. We found that it was possible to ship the raw clay/silt material from their quarry and blend it on-site with a locally sourced sand. Since our mix is 72% sand, that cuts down on costs greatly. We're only shipping about 784 tons of material from PA for the total 2800 tons of finished product needed for the fields. So 2016 tons of sand is coming from Bonnieville Sand & Gravel, 20 miles south of Elizabethtown. They literally dig the sand out of the hillside and screen and wash it to achieve a final product.

Here are a couple links to read about what makes a good infield mix:
http://janddturf.blogspot.com/2010/01/infield-mixes-volume-2-what-makes-good.html
http://janddturf.blogspot.com/2010/01/infield-mix-volume-3.html

And here are some photos of the on-site blending...

Pug mill upon arrival

Trial run

a little sand, and a little clay...

Final product being installed on field...

Here is a great article on proper infield maintenance:
http://www.sportsfieldmanagementmagazine.com/article-7280.aspx


More photos of other Park happenings...

Far Northwest corner of Park, looking back of Field Sports area

Ball diamond in Quad B

Quad B

Closeup of poles

Light fixture closeup

Quad c